YESTERDAY 
and TODAY 

ON 

FORTY-SECOND STREET 



ft' 

F. W. SCHOONMAKER, Sr. 



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Copyri.silu V)ll 
F. \\'. S(.-li(i(iiimakcr. Sr 



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I'RK.SS OK Till-. ( IIAINC lA llOl.T CO. 
N\-\v Nnrk. V . S. A. 




I'dKTKMTOr ]•'. W. S( IKlDN M AK I K. Sk. 



YESTERDAY 
and TODAY 

ON 

FORTY-SECOND STREET 




UCH is written now a days on 
old New York taverns. A play 
is now on the boards, Little 
^ Old New York. My own 
father told me of he as a boy catching 
frogs on Maiden Lane and gave me in the 
Seventies many a good trip downtown to 
look up to see if he could find any of his 
old relics on Fulton, Pearl, Nassau, and 
other downtown streets. 

Working their own way over in the 
East River so much as to give me a taste 
of fondness for the future of a wonderful 
city. 1 was a small boy at that time, with 
my home west of the Alleghenys, Pitts- 
burgh, little dreamed of the good fortune 
in store for me later on to plant my little 
store on the street of streets. Forty-second 
Street, and today to sit right in the heart 
of it for 48 years and try my best to give 



as much as I can of my life on it and I am 
sure 1 will not be able to give it all for to 
those who have taken up such a task, 
thoughts come and go especially when 
we run up against some dear old timer 
that brings back a big thought and I will 
say right here 1 do so congratulate myself 
to be permitted to live and see grow and 
in an ^'Empire Express" way to the center 
of gravity of our states. We had a big 
tunnel leading into a big station, plenty 
of horses to draw the train down to 26th 
Street and Center Street. A precious 
few hotels. Grand Union, Devonshire, 
Wellington, Riggs House, about the 
Grand Central Station and a few lesser 
lights toward Third Avenue, all private 
houses on the West Side. 

As I look back on my life in my line 
of trade on the Today greatest city of 
Humanity in the World, I say to myself 
is this a dream, or is it a natural fact? 
That so many years have been spared to 
one to see and besides seeing, enjoy life 
and the friendship of so many of whom 
many have gone to the higher life. So 
many of my friends have said to me. Oh 
6 



you ought not to pass away as your old 
chums have done and not give to those to 
follow the road you are on now and give 
them some data of your Hoy davs on the 
big (jateway to the rest of the World, for 
you know you can start from the Grand 
Central Depot and land up, but you will 
land up on 42nd vStreet again. As the 
story of an old negro at the Perth Amboy 
explosion who went up to the ticket office 
and said to the Agent, give me a ticket: 
after placing his $8.00 on the desk. When 
he asked the Agent I just want that much 
ticket. After a time he said. Well Boss, 
1 asked a man what T. N. T. meant and 
he told me it was this. Travel nigger, 
travel and that is just what I am going 
to do, so you see you can travel and travel 
from dear old 42nd Street. I do hope 
my friends will pardon me if I am more 
or less in the limelight in my storv for 1 
only knew myself my first year on 42nd 
Street, for I found myself not in old black 
Pittsburgh where cousins anti aunts 
abounded, but among a set, that set out 
for their ownselves and it was up to vou 
to swim or float. 

8 



I dropped into 42nd Street, just a year 
after the birth of the Grand Central Sta- 
tion. The biggest thing Uptown and I 
may say out of town also. For we were 
both well out of town as I will show you 
later on. I left home, Pittsburgh, shortly 
after my wedding day for the Panic of 
1873 gave the old town a hard time and 
I had a Postal Card from a sister living 
at Rye, New York, postal cards being 
fashionable just at that time, for they were 
a new thing. It said come on here to 
New York, for Mr. Frederick Brandies 
had put up a store between the Croton 
and Grand Union markets, which was an 
alleyway to carry coal, etc. to the New 
Haven part of the new Station. 

I was not long in my start with wife to 
follow me to the Far East. It was round 
about Christmas Day, 1874. I found 
myself well decorated on both sides of 
117 East 42nd Street, "my store," with 
beef and mutton, although it did hide my 
curealls t(j a certain extent. I washed off 
the chalk on the windows in the early 
morning of February 5th and while in 
that delightful task, a gentleman taking 



a before breakfast constitutional said, 
Well, Johnny, what are you going to 
start? I said a Drug Store. He said I 
will help you. I watched him turn into 
the hospital for Ruptured and Crippled, 
corner of 42nd Street and Lexington 
Avenue, my first good fortune. I went 
home and told my wife about it and she 
said. Who was he? 1 said I don't know, 
but I do now and it was Dr. Virgil P. 
Gibney, 16 Park Avenue, assistant to Dr. 
J as. Knight at the aforesaid hospital. The 
picture of my first store on 42nd Street 
hangs over the mirror in front of my store 
today. So much for my landing and now 
I must tell all I can remember of the 
growth of this wonderful street from my 
early days. 

Forty-second Street was so far uptown 
that by the means of Third Avenue Street 
car and later on Fourth Avenue street car. 
a good half day was taken up in the 
journey downtown and back, besides that 
the larger drug houses, only .sent an agent 
to our part of the city, once a week. Other 
times, you would go down and bring up 
your wants yourself. Oftentimes I left 
11 



my store at noon time and landed home at 
seven or eight o'clock. Four horses with 
hells on, on Third Avenue. It was (|uite 
an advance when the Avenue "C" cars 
started from the corner of 42nd Street and 
Park Avenue. A line of bob tailed cars, 
brought quite a little trade to me as the 
little Station was right across from my 
store at the corner of the Hotel Riggs, 
afterward taken in by the Grand Union 
Hotel and I know^ my friends do w^ant to 
know what 42nd Street looked like and 
not me. 

Forty-second Street as 1 look back was 
a beautiful street. Shaded from Madison 
Avenue west by fine trees and on the east 
of my location from Lexington Avenue 
almost to I'hird Avenue, a field with a 
little w^hite h(juse on the corner of 
Lexington Avenue and 43rd Street in 
which an old lady lived who had a herd of 
(joats for the milk was much used then. 
Extending from Second Avenue up to 
the Fast River was a hill leading up to 
Prospect Terrace w^here we all used to 
love to go in the evening and see the Great 
Harlem boats and the greater Boston 



boats on the Kast River. Benches were 
provided for those who wished to enjoy 
a rest from the toil of the day, which I 
much enjoyed. For my first home or 
start at Housekeeping was corner of 42nd 
Street and Prospect Terrace. In partner- 
ship with Mr. Zenos Crooker, who was 
the owner of the Fish department of the 
Grand Union market. Between my little 
store and the Grand Central depot. I did 
enjoy going down to P'ulton Market in 
the early mornings with him and see the 
sea food and then go to Hitchcocks to 
watch the dear little newsboys at break- 
fast. A cup of cofifee and two crullers 
for three cents. 

Hitchcocks stood just where the World 
Building is now. We went down in his 
fish cart, quite in style for they in the 
market had fine horses and carts. Mr. 
^^'ashington Alexander, Vegetables. 
Well, I must get back to my street, for I 
just love 42nd Street. 

Now, for the beautiful west side. We 
had four fine churches. Dr. Stephen 
Tyng's church, northeast corner of Madi- 
son Avenue and 42nd Street, called the 

14 



Oilcloth Church, for the slate roof was 
in colored diamond shape, a very good 
picture of it hangs on the wall of the 
Transportation Club, 18th Floor, Hotel 
Biltmore, and also will give you a fine 
impression of what T am trying to de- 
scribe. Then, St. Bartholomews. The 
Vanderbilt Church, corner of 44th Street 
and Madison Avenue with the big two 
square lot in front where many a time I 
had played with Maud S, a pasture for 
the Queen of the Turf, who held sway 
there. Then Dr. Charles Robinson's 
Presbyterian Church on the same side 
and Bishop Newman's Church, on the 
other side; called also General Grant's 
Church and also the Circle Church, be- 
cause all the seats were in almost a perfect 
circle, a fine big Church, afterwards 
taken down to build the Manhattan Ath- 
letic Club, (Cherry Diamond) now Tif- 
fany's Studio. Also Dr. Lloyd's Church 
afterwards used by the National Express 
Company at this Church my daughter 
was baptized in 1878. 

Of the Hotels, I find such a change 
that I am not able to fully express my- 

15 



self. Opposite my store was the wing of 
the old Grand Union Hotel, main en- 
trance on Park Avenue, in the middle of 
the block, owned by Mr. Samuel Shaw, 
Senior, and managed by two live men, 
William D. and George Garrison, from 
Garrison on the Hudson. On the corner 
was the Riggs House, Mr. Zela Carpen- 
ter, in charge. On 42nd Street, opposite 
my store Arnold Roe, had a restaurant 
patronized by Hackmen, etc. On the op- 
posite corner of 42nd Street, where the 
Belmont now stands, a man kept a little 
all night oyster house. His name was 
Lowes, an all night rendezvous, patron- 
ized by Hackmen also. As time went on, 
the Grand Union Hotel absorbed the 
Riggs House and other buildings at the 
arrival of Mr. Simeon Ford, who became 
Mr. Shaw's son-in-law and Mr. Samuel 
Shaw, junior, at which time the Grand 
Union took in all the different buildings 
and became a landmark for good food. 
One thing I do say for my life friend, 
Ford, he did give you the best ever and 
it was call early and get a stool at that old 
lunch counter and such a crew of waiters. 

17 



Only knew their first names, bLit they all 
seemed to know just what you wanted. 
My love for the old boys was great. 

Eddy, the number one, Bell Boy, never 
got any higher than number one, Bell Boy 
but in iiis later days, had been able to own 
his brownstone house and educate well 
his two daughters. He had a host of 
patrons. Billy Mason, was back of the 
counter and with his fine diamond pin, 
and Mr. Ford at the wheel, the old (jrand 
Union was the pride of the diners from 
all parts of the state. In fact one of the 
good old waiters, known as Tommy, waits 
on me today in the restaurant under the 
(irand Central Station and his stools are 
always filled with old time friends. Going 
back to the corner of 42nd Street on the 
West side (Belmont side) to Louis's 
Restaurant every night almost we would 
have a little Movie in the shape of a de- 
bate of some kind of scraps between the 
Hackmen. I must not forget my splendid 
landlord, Frederick Brandies, whose 
Restaurant was next to the Grand Central 
Depot, who built my store. He was a 
man second to none and so good to me and 

18 



no poor man ever went to him that did 
not get help. Oh, for more such men. All 
our shops were closed to pav our last 
honors to that whole souled man. He 
called me his little Doctor and used to 
come down to see me in the late hours and 
cheer me along. 

In 1880 the Grand Central Depot put 
up tw^o story buildings at the corner of 
Park Avenue and 42nd Street, opposite 
the Station where I moved to a larger 
store, which 1 kept open day and night 
and where I am now located an old lady 
lived in a baggage car and kept goats and 
dogs. Then the big Murray Hill Hotel 
came along under Mr. David Hammond 
and Mr. Wash Jaques. The Hotel Bristol 
came to life at the corner of 5th Avenue 
and 42nd Street and the Wellington 
Hotel, Madison Avenue and 42nd Street, 
where the Hotel Manhattan now stands. 
I must go back a little and tell of Rutger's 
Female College, 42nd Street and 5th 
Avenue, opposite the Reservoir, now the 
Library. 

A fine lawn in front and young ladies 
sitting on benches under the trees. On 

20 




Courtesy of Valentine's Manual of Old Xcw York 

Forty-second Street looking wkst from Park Avenue, 1875. 
An interesting view ok the south side of 42Np Street opposite 

THE DEPOT, former SITE ScllOON M A KEK's DrIi; StORE. PRES- 
ENT SITE OF THE BeLMONT HoTEI,, IrVING NATIONAL 

Bank, etc. 



the northeast corner Levi P. Morton's 
home and fine greenhouse. Bryant Park 
was our great resort for shade and rest 
filled with children Saturdays and Sun- 
days. 

Many a time in my early days we won- 
dered why they did call our Park Central 
Park and you would do a trip to walk up 
and into the park and home for the walk- 
ing was not the best in wet and wintry 
days, still it was a great place to enjoy 
yourself and a ride around Central Park 
was the height of our pleasure and then 
on and out Jerome Road, to"Gabe Cases" 
for a good supper. 

Now, I must tell a good story of my 
early recollections. 1 had made good with 
the porters, brakemen, conductors and 
engineers and later on the high officials 
of the road, so much so that I thought 
myself sort of one of them. I well re- 
member dear old Uncle Jakey Mendel, 
the father of William Mendel who now 
has so many restaurants around and about 
the depot. Uncle Jakey was liked by 
everybody. His son, William Mendel, 
and Arthur Newman were the two ticket 

22 




Exterior of Mr. F. \V. Schconmakf.r's Drug Store, the first on 4Jnd 

Street. Located at the southwest corner of prese.mt 

Hotel Commodore, 1875 



agents of the New Haven road, and every 
night not two but one of them would come 
down to my little store and spend the 
hour between eleven and twelve o'clock, 
then go back to the depot and unlock the 
office and sell tickets for the twelve 
o'clock train to Boston. Among the list 
of porters was a comical colored man 
called Charles Top. Charles was full of 
fun. He came into my store one time full 
of cough and 1 presented him with a 
bottle of my celebrated Syrup of Kupato- 
rium compound cough syrup. I still 
make it but use the English "Boneset." 
I told Charlie to report to me on his 
return from Chicago. He reported with 
cold gone and I said : "Charlie that is 
great syrup; did you use it all.-'" "Xo, 
doctah," he said, "I just put it up in my 
locker and every time I brushed a shoe, 
I just kept saying: 'Go way old cold, or 
ril give you a dose of Syrup of Kupator,' 
and 1 just scared that old cold out of that 
door." 1 ha\e told of this often as a 
Christian Science argument. I can well 
remember the starting of horse cars on 
Fourth Avenue, and also the freight cars. 

24 



They were hauled down Center Street, 
through the old tunnel from Depew 
Place, by as many as twelve and sixteen 
horses. I can tell you those were good old 
days, and everybody seemed to get so much 
out of so little. Park Avenue was beauti- 
ful, with the green grass and shade trees, 
from 42nd Street down to 34th Street. 
What would you think of some of the 
ways we had for enjoyment? I can re- 
member myself and wife, after midnight, 
often walking from my store up to Fifth 
Avenue and taking a Broadway omnibus 
away down to Dorians at Fulton Market, 
a great place for oysters and new ale; 
many others went there also. 

Our most patronized theatres were 
Booth's \\'allack's Daley's and Lhiion 
Square, for such actors as Booth, Barrett, 
Bangs Forest, Ada Rehan, Sarah Jewett, 
Charlotte Cushing, and later on, Viola 
Allen, Charles Richmond, Cyril Scott 
and so down to our modern theatres. 
The Shakespearian plays seem to have 
gone into the past. 

I often wish I could live over those good 
old days. I well remember a visit with 
25 



my father-in-law to Gilmorc's Garden, 
now Madison Square Garden, and his 
pointinij; out to me a fair specimen of 
manhood, well groomed, and in elderlv 
life, and saying to me, "I think that is one 
of our Methodist Bishops." To make 
sure, I asked an usher and he said : "Why, 
don't you know, that is Commodore Van- 
derbilt/' That was the first time I had 
seen the head of the family of the great 
system of railroads. 

In the year ISSO the Grand Central 
purchased the property where the Hotel 
Belmont now stands, and put up a two 
story building — stores below and offices 
above — and through my relation with the 
officers of the Grand Central Station and 
by its president, Mr. Chaunccy M. 
Depew, 1 was given the corner store, at 
42nd Street and Park Avenue, which I 
occupied for twenty-two years. 1 had the 
first and only all-night telephones in New 
York City- -the hotels displayed a card 
"Go to F.W. Schoonmaker's Drug Store,'' 
and from that I received quite a little 
prominence, also for the Murray Hill, 
the Grand I'nion Hotel, and the hotels 
uptown. 26 



The starting of the Lincoln Safe De- 
posit Co., and the Lincoln National Bank 
did much to enhance the business of 42nd 
Street. Between my store and the bank 
building were located Herman Abra- 
ham's cigar store, PurcelTs restaurant, 
trunk and leather store and the Adams 
Express Company. These, with the Bel- 
mont, Murray Hill, Grand Union and 
Manhattan Hotels, made almost a city 
in and about the depot, which in the 
meantime had been enlarged, and after- 
ward our present Grand Central Station 
came into life. I think it will stand as the 
greatest of all stations, landing its patrons 
in the most wonderful of all streets. I 
must add to my memoirs the starting of 
the Transportation Club. At the time we 
had not so many places for our noonday 
spread, and one day going to the Man- 
hattan Athletic Club for lunch, I met my 
friend Mr. John Carstensen, vice-presi- 
dent of the New York Central, who said 
to me: "Why can't we have a club up 
there?" pointing up to the high beams 
and construction of the Manhattan Hotel. 
We consulted Mr. William S. Hawk, 
27 



proprietor of the Windsor Hotel on Fifth 
Avenue. He was well pleased and went 
right on and gave us our beautiful club 
on the top floor of the Hotel Manhattan. 
I may say our first meeting for election 
of officers was down below the Columbia 
Bank vaults, under Fifth Avenue, and 
now we are well located at the Hotel Bi It- 
more, 18th floor, but 1 am now where 
everybody else is today. I could, through 
my life journey, tell so many things that 
would sound strange. Think of the young 
doctors at the Hospital for Ruptured and 
Crippled, corner Lexington Avenue and 
42nd Street, and myself having a shooting 
gallery in the big open yard back of my 
little store, and from four to five o'clock 
in the afternoon having target practice! 
Now the big concourse of the Grand 
Central Station occupies the same ground. 
It is a great treat for me to write this 
book, for I think it has been given to only a 
very few to live on the big highway where 
one has to "watch his step" every minute, 
back to the time where you could "step" 
all the time, in fact the only way to get 
there. I have seen beautiful brown stone 
28 



houses make way for stores, great build- 
ings taken down for still greater ones — 
still the dear old street is very close to me. 

I am sure my memoirs would not be 
complete if I forgot those close to me in 
my younger days. My, how many 1 do 
miss with the big heart and the glad hand, 
for them time was given to cheer up and 
comfort, if need be. I have spoken of the 
hard part of a start and I will never forget 
my dear old father telling me to keep my 
name up, and when General Thomas L. 
James permitted me to put it on top of 
the bank building, I only wished my 
father had been alive to see it. So it was 
after a time I fell into the graces and 
learned" the human side of my many 
friends. 

I well remember the Spuytcn Duyvil 
accident on the Central, and many were 
brought to my little store. Mr. Wagner 
of the Palace Car Co., was on the missing 
list. I think that was 1878, and I got to 
know Mr. E. V. W. Rossiter, Mr. James 
Toucey, Mr. Ira A. Place, Charles F. 
Cox, Mr. Chauncey M. Depew, who 
afterward gave me my 42nd Street Bel- 

29 



moiit store; Mr. Van Arsdale, judge 
Green, Mr. Bishop, James D. Layng, and 
Mr. Turner of the New Haven Railroad 
and many others. 1 have watched with 
pride the rise and progress of the Lincoln 
National Bank. It was a treat to be close 
to General Thomas L. James, president 
of the bank, and Mr. Wm. T. Cornell, 
cashier. Commodore Van Sanford, John 
R. Van Wormer, and many others, and 
to know the present officers, Mr. Charles 

E. Warren, David Grant, Mr. Reed, Mr. 

F. E. Webb when they were in prepara- 
tion of the high duties they are now called 
upon to perform. General James was 
very close to me, for he could trust me to 
give my limited advice when on the sick 
list. I knew all of his family, in fact, 
attended two of his weddings. I have had 
a brother's fondness for Mr. Cornell, as 
we rode much together, and were great 
wheelmen. I will never forget a Berkshire 
trip, when we stopped at my brother's 
home at Mt. Kisco and my brother said: 
"What will you have, boys; butter- 
milk or champagne, they both cost the 
same?" I can say of Mr. Cornell that he 

30 



could say ''no'' easier than any man that 
ever lived. Why is it today that men are 
so much more severe and stern in dealing 
with their fellow men? We were all on 
the level in those days; maybe the wheel 
did it, and the auto has put them back on 
the high gear. Moral — never get beyond 
your fellow man's friendship; do not 
wrap yourself up in your own clothes; 
pay more attention to those that work for 
and trade with you; cheer up your fellow 
man; don't be bigger than the other fel- 
low^ — you may think you are, but you are 
not — it is an awful mistake. I would not 
take all New York and not have the hard 
worked hand and think how many times 
he has said: "God bless you, doctor." All 
money cannot buy it; only love, God's 
gift to man. 

I do hope my life's work will go down 
in helping others who may start as I did, 
with not much outside of the smile, and 
you can make everybody love you, if you 
only try — don't mind if you do stumble 
a little, for we all have to creep before 
wc can walk. 

31 



I have in my memory book of this won- 
derful street told much of the street, ho- 
tels, etc., but 1 am sure many of my 
readers would ask me why don't you 
tell us about the men of your early days. 
\Miat were they like? My answer would 
be, well not exactly as they are today, 
there was none of the rush and push and 
(\\'atch Your Step), no shuttle to jam 
you up in at Times Square, like a box oi 
Sardines and open the can at the station. 
Plenty of room as 1 could show you in 
my early prints and the old hacks moved 
slow and had no horns or gasoline. 

Men had more time to talk and not so 
much to talk about. 1 will first cite one 
called Old Jersey. I never heard of his 
other name, all just called him Jersey. 
1 am sure he was much to Commodore 
Vanderbilt as he was on a pension for 
past service. WYdl, he was tjuite given to 
give his good company and made my 
little store his holdout as the tw^o markets 
on each side of my store was the meeting 
place of many men. Old Jersey was just, 
full of good nature and I had many a good 
laugh at his expense. \\'ell, as I have 



stated Pittsburgh was my first home and 
as I had left my wife there until I got my 
drug fires burning. I received one day 
a telegram telling me 1 was the father of 
a dear little boy. Jersey came in in the 
midst of my joy and gladness and said, 
Well, Doc whats up? Oh Jersey, I have 
a boy, so it was soda water for Jersey and 
not only for him for he heralded the news 
far and near and by bed time I had freed 
myself of all my fountain supply, but 
Jersey made me famous to many after 
friends tobe. 

Uncle Jakie Mendel was a fine man 
the father of one William Mendel of 
Restaurant and Package Room fame. He 
stands out to me as the man with the smile 
and good will. He was the Baggage 
Master of the New Haven R. R. at my 
end of the station at the New York 
Central rooms then located on 42nd 
Street. Jackson Express did most of 
the local work. Then Uncle Jakie made 
good with all and the station gave him 
the package room privalege free for the 
depot patrons which since has had such 
a wonderful growth that there is a large 



place or two set apart in the Depot con- 
ducted for many years by his son William 
who, at that time was Ticket Agent for the 
same road. Frederick Brandeis, my 
landlord, 1 have spoken of before who 
had the famous restaurant. William and 
George Garrison, who had the dear old 
Grand Union before our good friend 
Simeon Ford with Samuel Shaw, son of 
the original owner Mr. Samuel Shaw, Sr. 
The Garrisons came down from Gar- 
rison-on-Hudson and as Mr. Shaws farm 
stands to-day back of Peekskill the home 
of the many year President of the New 
York Central, Hon. Chauncy \I. Depew 
no introduction required. So I could go 
on, with David Hammond and Washing- 
ton Jacjues at the laters Murray Hill. 
Levi P. Morton, Senator Bixby, Judge 
Ashbel Green, Mr. Van Arsdale, Mr. Ira 
Place, John Carstensen and Fred Slack 
all old veterans in and about this big 
station had and have to-day much to do 
with my success on this wonderful street 
and my dear readers little did we think 
of to-day when we had yesterday. Do 
you know Central Park was away off and 

34 



many a time I have been asked why the 
station was called Grand Central and out 
of the reach of many. It well shows these 
men, some who were on the lookout for 
the future history of New York. 

I have just thought of a character in 
big Edw. Monihan who had a go-as-you- 
please restaurant below Lexington Ave. 
on 42nd St. He certainly was in a class 
by himself as far as his ability to make 
much ado about nothing for he got one of 
the Grand Union lists of good eating and 
had a big letter A sign made and copied 
the whole Menu and when a hungry 
soul came in, after selecting his choice bit 
on the sign, he would, as only he could, 
rub his hands and say 1 am sorry but 1 
am all out of that, until you got down to 
ham and eggs or the regular hash. He 
did well as many a time, I with others 
about me would go in our markets, Cro- 
ton and Grand Union and pick out our 
fish fowl or meat and big Ed. would cook 
it up for us as we stood about the old store 
and Ed. entertained us with his Irish wit. 

Then there was big Fred in Croton 
Marketso jolly with his big round priestly 

35 



face, John Stimmell, \\'ash, Alexander 
whose good wife still comes in my store, 
Samuel and James West, \Ir. Cinch who 
claimed relation to A. T. Stewart, Henry 
Tyson. I had quite a few doctors drive up 
to the store to hitch their horses. One of 
which was Dr. Simms, son of the great 
Dr. Marion Simms of my early days. He 
would have a fine coach dog under his 
buggy and my good clerk Greavens had a 
pet cat that he was fond of and that dog 
made life miserable for Toodles the cat. 
But one day the dog was investigating 
back of the counter went under Toodles 
and he lit right on Mr. Dog and out of the 
store and up past the depot they both 
went and when the doctor got home his 
coach dog was there to greet him, but 
never again behind the counter for him. 

My store was then much used by the 
conductors of both roads to separate the 
silver from the copper and sort the bills 
and make the days work easy for count- 
ing and many a time two or three would 
be at work getting straightened out. 

I must pay a tribute to my old clerk 
D. A. Greaven as so much of my early 

36 



life, in fact ten years was with him and 
many a night we have pulled down our 
little cots and slept in the back room and 
many a night we have gone out in the back 
yard in the snow and thrown a bottle or 
a boot at the dear old cats, on the low roof 
prize cats of the market. He afterward 
took the position as manager of the Perry 
Drug Store at the entrance to Brooklyn 
Bridge, a position he filled with credit 
to the store. As being in the JJ\jrld 
Building and where so many men now 
employed by our daily paper he jvas just 
the man for the place. 

During the period of the re-building 
of the station I had to move my store 
below Lexington Ave. on 42nd St. num- 
ber 141 and well does it bear out the 
saying, (A block is a long ways in New 
York) and I was glad when the day came 
for me to open my big store for day & 
night at the Belmont corner where I was 
for 26 years and as the old saying goes 
had no key for the door which is a fact, 
all the time open. A harbor for many a 
traveler in the wee hours of the early 
morning to wait for a breakfast or to start 
2>7 



out on the railroad. In fact the only store 
in the upper part of the city for the sick 
anci the well in the late hours and then we 
had the privaledge of dressing cuts and 
wounds and J had quite my share of it 
being so near the station but I will not 
detail that part of my story. 



Before ending these short reminiscences 
I want to append a few notes from my 
old time neighbors of the few that are 
left. 

New York, X()veml)er 1st. 1921. 

Dear Frikxd Schoox.makhk :- 

^'(IU asked me if I remetiiher the old days in 
4Jnd Street. I surely do and my recollection of 
tlieni is most restful and charming- in these tur- 
bulent times. It was a real old Main Street from 
Tliird to Madison Avenue, wasn't it? Xo farther; 
that was our h'mit and witliin that charmed area 
we Vwcd in liajjpiness and ,s^ood fellowship for 
aboiU every person on each side of the way we 
knew, if not i)ersonally and intimately we knew 
who the\" were when we met llieni. Lookiu','' l)ack 
it seems that the sense of human companionshij) 
was infinitely keener than now. Dear old friend, 
do you realize the full significance of the fact that 
it is nearly a half century ago of which I am writ- 
ing, when the wall paj^er factory tiu'ned out its 
l^roduct where the nfUcv of ihe C'ommodore is 

38 



now, when Charlie Hihbard and his father, who 
reall\- looked younger than Charlie, sold succulent 
chops and steaks next door, when Jim West, the 
old sport, and Sam, his quieter brother who came 
from Penn Yan, presided over Brandes' fruit 
store. 1 )o vou remember the old Jerome Park race 
da\'s when the more circumspect would ])ass by 
Brandes and the cup that cheered and sometimes 
did the other thing and stop at your soda fountain 
for the big glasses of root beer you used to hand 
out for a nickel — alas, no more, since sodas have 
gone up with everything else. 

M\- knowledge of 42nd Street dates l)ack to my 
I)(i\h()od days when the stock yards were located 
just east of Madison Avenue, 46th and 47th 
Streets, and the little Harlem round house stood 
on 42nd Street corner facing the old Reiuiion 
Hotel, afterwards the Westchester and finally the 
( jrand Union. I lived at that time on Sixth Avenue 
at 46th Street and when 1 thought I was old 
enough or Ijig enough went over to the Hudson 
River Railroad at 30th Street and 9th Avenue to 
look after a job as brakeman, which I landed in 
1867, and have been on the road ever since in 
various capacities. 

( )ur first official introduction to the Grand 
Central depot was made late one October after- 
noon in 1871 when I was one of a train crew that 
brought the first New York Central train to the 
east side of town ; a great day — a vast cavern 
in which our few little trains seemed lost after 
the primitive station at M)th Street where every 
train started from one platform about eight car 
lengths long. Pnit we soon got acquainted with our 
new smToundings and a year or two commenced 
to bring changes. Xew buildings were erected and 
old ones torn down. Dr. Tyng's cliurch on the 

39 



Madison A\enue corner succnml)ed to the march 
of progress with the increase of real estate vahie. 
The Devonshire Hotel, afterward the Athens, and 
now the St. Cloud, started in husiness. Little 
Polymoro. who started also ahout that time in a 
very humhle caj^acity. made a million and 1 am 
told is now in Paris where the spiritual atmosphere 
is less restricted making another one. Wm re- 
member our old friend. Sammy Abrahams, who 
kejit really good cigars and tobacco for many 
years across the street and Lower's restaurant just 
around the corner where his beef stews had an 
almost national reputation. I lately saw a ])hoto- 
graph of your old store with Dr. Sewcll and 
Mr. Graven standing outside and the hat the 
doctor had on was of the vintage of the middle 
70's. That hat would to-day, 1 have no doubt, 
fetch a mighty stiiT price from Lew Fields or 
Al Jolsen. You, of course, rememl)er the time 
when the Lincoln National and h^ifth Avenue 
banks started and the stock was sold at par. — now 
in the thousands — what! — and John Dutcher's 
cow was pastured on the jiresent site of the l>ilt- 
more. 

Well, my dear old side jiartner of another age. 
times do change but the memories of those days 
when we viewed the world and what went on 
within it with younger eyes and all of the aspira- 
tions that belonged to youth certainly have a 
charm all their own yet and are very pleasant to 
think of. When you i)rint the story of 42nd 
Street, do send me a copy for old time's sake. 

.\s ever thine. 

Fki;i)i:kick T. .Slack. 



40 



November 1. 1921. 
Mr. F. \\'. Schoonmaker. 

70 East 42ncl Street. 

"Sly dear Mr. Schoonmaker: 

I am delighted to know tliat you are writing 
up East Forty-second Street, but I am sure that 
I antedate you. I took up residence at the Hos- 
pital for Ru])tured and Crii)pled in November. 
1871, and lived at the Hospital for thirteen years. 
1 understand the Trustees are planning a dinner 
for me to complete fifty years of connection with 
the institution. 

I recall the old street before the elevated struc- 
ture was up, when goat farms were on the north- 
east corner, and when goats used to gambol on 
the Lexington Avenue stoop of the Hospital. 

I recall so vividly one early morning when 1 
found you not far from the Hospital on Forty- 
second Street, in a drug store just opened. You 
have often reminded me since then of that inter- 
view and how I promised to help you along. You 
and I got to know all the cabbies and policemen 
in the neighborhood, the grocery and even the sa- 
loon next to the station. I rememl)er distinctly 
going into the station the first day it was open. 

My venerable and respected Chief, Dr. Knight, 
was very fond of flowers in the front yard. His 
hobby was orchids. So we have literally grown 
up with the street. I think I have walked over 
every bit of flagging from Lexington Avenue to 
the station, so 1 am glad you are writing up the 
old street. 

\()urs sincerely, 

\'. P. (iIliNb:V. 
41 



June 29. 1921. 
Mr. F. W. .Schoonmaker. 
70 East 42nd Street, 
New ^'..rk. X. \'. 
Dear Mr. Sclmonniaker : 

I have your letter of recent (late in which v(»u 
tell me you are writing a book, "\'esler(lay and 
Today on Forty-second Street," and that you have 
been familiar with the street for fortv-eight years 
ending February last. 

It is j)articularly nice of you to ask me to write 
you a line and tell you something al)out the i)eriod 
in connection with tlie organization of the Lin- 
cohi National Bank, now the Lincohi Office of 
the Irving National Bank. 

Vou, of course, know that the bank was organ- 
ized in November, 1881, and o])ened its doors for 
business January 1, 1882. At that time it was 
the only ])ank in this, now Grand Central, zone; or, 
in fact, within a radius of a mile in any one di- 
rection, north, east, st)uth or west. 

I might also say that the old (irand Central 
Station, which was completed in 1871, was the 
sole railway terminal in New \'ork City, and when 
it opened for l)usiness and traffic the rural char- 
acter of Forty-second Street was then unchanged. 
.\ part of the street was comj)osed of the most 
modest homes, rude clapl)()ard shacks fronted the 
railroad station, and in these shacks cheap meals 
were served ; there were some Ijarrooms and a 
verv incons])icuous hotel was on the corner. 
Within a pistol shot in any direction squatters 
maintained their rights, perched on every rock. 
It was believed at that time inevitable that the 
building of the station, where was concentrated 
all traffic to and from New ^'ork, would stimu- 
late business in h'orty-second Street, which was 
then a suburb of the City ])roi)er, and it is funny 
42 



to look back on that time, for there were no first- 
class hotels nearer than a mile from the station, 
and today we possess one on every corner. 

You will recall the organization of the bank on 
the upper floor of a little building on the north- 
west corner of Forty-second Street and Vander- 
bilt Avenue, in which building the West Shore 
Railroad Conijiany shared occupancy. Since that 
time the thoroughfare has developed beyond the 
fondest anticipations of those who saw its future, 
and the story of the progress of the Street is so 
well known to everyone it is hardly necessary for 
me to recite it in this letter. 

Instead of one bank on the street, or in the 
immediate environment, every financial institution 
of size, and almost all of the smaller ones, have 
their branch offices and some their main of- 
fices, immediately at hand. And the Street has 
jumped, in a very short ]:»eriod of time, from its 
])rimitive condition to a street which bids fair, 
in the near future, to outbid Wall Street and 
rapidly become the financial center of the world. 

As far back as I can remember the Street, and 
that is 1880. I have always recalled your name 
over your various progressive series of shop and 
drug stores along the thoroughfare, and your 
name is one of its earliest and most permanent 
landmarks, and I trust it will remain on the 
boards for all time to come. 

1 congratulate you for being one of the ])ioneers 
and one of the survivors of a great development, 
and 1 wish you every success with your book, 
which should ])rove a very readable one to those 
who have watched the growth of this wonderful 
city. 

Vours verv sincerely, 

CHAS. ETJJOT \\'ARREN. 
/ 'icc-Prcsidciit. 
43 



January 1''. VJ22. 
My dear Mr. Schooimiaker : 

Vour hook on Forty-second Street calls to mind 
many interesting events that have occurred during 
the thirty-nine years the Lincoln Safe Deposit 
Company has been operating on this street. 

.\s you know, at the time we started in busi- 
ness there were very few stores on Forty-second 
Street, west of Park Avenue. There were a few 
little shacks opposite the Grand Central Terminal. 
Galway's Grocery and Mrs. Gibson's Candy 
Store, on the north side at X'andc-rbili Avenue, 
and no others until Si.xtli .Vvenue was reached, 
with \\ akeley's saloon on tlie u])per easterlv cor- 
ner, a drug store on the upper westerly corner, 
and ( J'Xeill's shoe store on the lower westerly 
corner. Then no stores till Broadway was 
reached, with the St. Cloud Hotel on the lower, 
and Acker. Merrall tS: Condit's grocery on the upper 
easterly corner, with a small hotel on the lower 
westerly corner, and 1 think a telegraph office at 
the up])er westerly corner. At Seventh .\venue 
there was a private house on the lower and Hriggs' 
Livery Stable on the upper westerly corner. 
There were no more stores until Eighth Avenue 
was reached, with the Franklin Savings l>ank in 
a small brick ])uilding on the lower easterly cor- 
ner, with N'ogel \- .Sous clothing store on the 
lower westerly corner, a drug store on the upper 
easterly corner and an Atlantic (S: Pacific Com- 
pany's Tea Store on the upper westerly corner. 
These blocks formerly occupied by residences are 
a mass of stores, hotels and theaters today. 

Ours was the only safe deposit vault above 
Twenty-third Street. Today tliere are ]:)rol)ably 
over fiftx- to the north, and in the vicinity of 

44 



Forty-second Street they are as thick as peas m 
a ]X)(1. Our company and the Manhattan Stora<^e 
& Warehouse Co.. hoth on P'orty-second Street, 
were the first to erect fireproof warehouses in 
this country, and these two huildings were really 
the first two fireproof huildings of any size huilt 
on Manhattan. 1 can say for our company as 1 
can say for Forty-second Street: "AIv! How we 
have grown."' 

Aly ])ersonal recollections of Fortv-second 
Street go farther hack than our estahlishment of 
the Lincoln Safe Deposit Co., as I was Ixjrn 
ahout a mile from this street. As a hoy I have 
seen sheep and cattle driven through the street 
"on the hoof" from W'eehawken ferry to the 
slaughter houses on the East Side. There was in 
those da}-s a sign at Weehawken ferry, giving the 
rates for sheep, for cattle, for foot passengers, 
for a one-liorse cart and for a four-wheeled 
truck. 

There were no street cars in Forty-second 
Street, and when Sixth Avenue Elevated Rail- 
road was erected four-wheeled, one-horse vehicles, 
called herdics. transported four passengers each to 
the Grand Central Station for five cents each. 
The Madison Avenue cars stopped at Thirty- 
second Street; the Sixth Avenue cars stopj^ed at 
Forty-third Street, with a shuttle car to Central 
Park. Another car line came to the Grand Cen- 
tral fnini Third Avenue, hy way of Thirty-fifth 
.Street and Lexington Avenue. 

It does not .seem j)ossil)Ie that in one short life- 
time the changes in any locality could he so great. 
l)ut such is New York. 

Yoiu's sincerel\-. 

WALTER C. REID. 
45 



January 1"^ \'>22. 
F. W. Schoontnaker. Ksij.. 
62 East 42nd Street. 
New ^'ork C'itv. 

Dear ( )1(1 I'^ricnd : 

Xo one of the old Forty-second Streeters is l)et- 
ter able to write the history of this "Dream 
Street ;" for such has it truly been within your 
memory and mine; or to recall those men. many 
of whom were our good friends — men who early 
had the vision, and realized what the future of 
this great modern thoroughfare was to become. 
These men of "yesterday" truly vi.sualized "to- 
day." and from shacks to skyscrapers have seen 
the evolution of old New York, as evidenced by 
tlie remarkable growth of the Forty-second Street 
zone. 

Like yourself, although following you. 1 came 
later into the Street, and showed my faith in the 
locality by imiting with my partner, (iardner 
W'etherbee, and our associates in acc|uiring the 
old Hotel \\'ellington on the corner of Madison 
Avenue and I'orty-second Street, and gradually 
])urchasing adiourning ])r()perty as time went on; 
subse(|uently disposing of our purchases to James 
J. P)el(lon. oiu- former landlord at the old \\'in(l- 
sor Flotel. who erected the Manhattan Hotel of 
which I lawk (.\- Wetherbee were the lessees for 
twentv vears. 'idle opening of the hotel occurred 
in the fall of 18')6. 

Did time ])ermit. 1 should enjoy adding mine 
to your reminiscences of the men who helped 
make Forty-second Street, but 1 take great plea- 
sure in sending this letter in appreciation of the 
book you have i)repared and will shortly have ])ub- 

46 



lished. I am sure it will be most interesting to 
those who have been associated with the Street's 
activities, and hope that it will prove to be not only 
a l)ook of beauty l)ut a joy forever. 

W'hh renewed regards to you and vours. and 
all good wishes until the "Journey's ImkI," ])e- 
lieve me, 

\'ery sincerelv. 

^ our friend, 

WILLIAM S. HAWK. 



My Dear Mr. Schoonmaker : 

While in a reminiscent mood anent this vicinity 
and its human as well as material landmarks and 
milestones. I must not omit mention of my next- 
door neighbor and good friend, John P. Carter, 
now treasurer of the Lincoln Safe X)eposit Com- 
pany, with which he has been associated for thirty- 
six out of the forty-odd years of his young life 
connecting him with the prominent activities of 
Porty-second Street. 

Mr. .Carter rememljers that even in his time 
goats gambolled over the high rock once crowning 
the property adjoining my present store and upon 
which later King's Livery Stable was erected. 

Perhai)s it was the keen appetite of youth 
which im])ressed upon Mr. Carter's memory vivid 
scenes of a Low Cost of Living-era, long since 
lost to view, when eager crowds sought al fresco 
refreshments at an oyster and clam stand doing 
a rushing business at the corner of Forty-second 
Street and Park Avenue, where a dozen luscious 
bivalves of the opened-as-you-eat variety, and in- 

47 



elusive of crackers and condiments, could l)e had 
for a dime. A nickel more provided one with a 
])lump. six-inch-long cigar, warranted to last out 
the stage ride wherehy. from the same corner, 
one was con\cyed to .South or Fulton Ferr\'. 

Jn later years I'urcell's delicious French ])read. 
at ten cents ])er long loaf, hecame the character- 
istic hadge of the Grand Central Commuter. 
.Stacks of these loaves, neatly wraj)ped and tied 
for transportation, while still liot from the oven, 
daily awaited the charge of the home-going-hri- 
gade. and the good fellow who stopped en route to 
treat himself and his friends in ante-prohihition 
fashion paid for his liquor hy the loss of his 
loaf, the demand exceeding even Purcell's ex- 
tensive su])i)ly. (iood old customs, good old days, 
of the "Age of Innocence." all now hut a simple 
memorw 

\'ery truly, 

^"our friend. 

fOUX T. CARTER. 



48 



